How to Remove Old Device Drivers in Windows 10

These days we are starting to find some great gadgets available that look fantastic, but sometimes the prices for them are so high we need to spend a few days thinking whether or not it’s going to be worth it. Gadgets also often come with several versions of the same gadget differentiated by specs and then subsequently the price.

One of the features that you pay more money for is space. Often people would buy a device with more space than they really need if they knew how to stop using up so much unnecessary space on the disk.

As we use our gadgets, over time, they can build up temporary files and unwanted files that don’t need to be there. These files don’t remove themselves, and thus if you don’t perform maintenance on the computer, you can soon find yourself running out of space.

Device drivers aren’t typically things that use up copious amounts of space, but they do use up space nonetheless. Space that you could be using for something else or just having the free space to take the stress away from the hardware. It’s always a good thing to delete all files that are no longer needed, and drivers are one of the more common packages for people to install on computers.

DELETING OLD DRIVER PACKAGES IN WINDOWS 10

Click on the “Start” menu (Windows icon) available from the left side of the taskbar and then click on the “File Explorer” option from the left pane. Or if you don’t have it there, you can click on the “File Explorer” icon available from the taskbar, like shown in the picture below.

Click on “This PC” from the left side pane.

Doing so results in the “C: drive” becoming available under the “Device and drivers” section as you can see in the image below.

Right-click on the “C: drive” and then click on the “Properties” option from the menu.

Click on the “Disk Cleanup” button that is available in the section that shows you the Capacity of the drive. (There is no need to change any of the other options within the Properties.)

Click on the “Clean up system files” option from the Description area.

Click the button if it asks you it wants to calculate the amount of space it can free up. When that is complete, you can then scroll down the list until you see the “Device driver packages” box. Make sure that box is checked with a tick so that when you run the Disk Cleanup utility, it will clean those drivers and get rid of them.

Click on the “OK” button down below and then wait for the Disk Cleanup, including the Device driver packages is complete.

(Some computers may not have it there. The laptop we were using earlier in the day did have it available while the computer where are on now has it missing. If it isn’t there then there’s nothing you can do about it—it just means that your old drivers have already been removed and you don’t need to worry. It will always be there available for you to select if your computer needs old driver packages removed.)

That is all you need to delete the old driver packages from the computer. Sometimes people can install more than the drivers on the computer when all they wanted to install was the drivers because OEMs and manufacturers enjoy offering firmware flashing tools and other things alike that they make from the official websites, so you download other things they want on your computer at the same time you get the drivers.

If you don’t want the drivers on the computer at all and think you may have installed one of those programs, you can quickly delete them from the computer also.

Click on the “Start” menu again from the left side of the taskbar and then click on the “Settings” option from the left side pane.

Click on the “Apps” icon from the “Windows Settings” window.

Older versions of the Windows 10 Operating System: Windows developers have changed the way the Settings application looks over time and specifically to the applications. No longer do you find them in the “System” section of the Settings app; instead they’ve been given their own “Apps” icon and everything to do with the apps is now in there. If you do have the older version, you’ll need to do the following instead: Click on the “System” button from the Windows settings screen. Click on the “Apps and features” from the left side pane and then scroll down the right section of the screen where it lists the apps and features until you find the name of the program you installed. Once you have found the program that you installed to get the drivers on the computer, click on it and then choose the “Uninstall” option that presents itself directly beneath the program.

Now just keep it on the “Apps and features” that it automatically opens up to and then scroll down the right side pane for any of the apps that you want to be removed. Just click on it once to highlight t and then you’ll see the option appear beneath it that allows you to uninstall it.

That is all you need to have deleted old drivers and old driver programs that are no longer wanted when running a version of the Windows 10 operating system. All version of the Windows 10 OS to date can follow the guide and have the drivers and its programs removed.

2 Comments

AltensiedlerJanuary 22, 2019 @ 1:48 am

I have a computer that is running on a 64-bit version of Windows 10 which is a good machine that I bought for gaming. Whenever I try to install drivers it always gives me the message “not compatible with this version of windows.” I am trying to install the drivers when using NVIDIA GeForce Experience. I do not know where else to find the drivers I need. I assume this is the only place to get the GeForce drivers.

Assuming the copy of Windows 10 that you’re using is legitimate, the likely problem is that you’re trying to install the incorrect version of the drivers.

Look at the computer’s system information to see if you need an x86 or x64 bit version of the program. Even though you think you have a computer that runs 64-bit architecture, you might be needing to install the x86 version of the driver package instead.